Newsletter 14: Signing off

Dear friends,

 

Well my year is over!  I am back in the grey, wet and windy country I love to call home and have already started a new job.  The last two weeks have been a little hectic so I hope you forgive me not writing to you before.  Part of the problem has been a lack of net access but I seem to have survived that trial relatively unscathed.

 

My last weeks at Armonia were, in many ways, strange.  I spent a few days away with my parents catching up on sleep and enjoying the Chihuahua countryside.  The Copper Canyons were spectacular and I was reminded of how small we all are in comparison to the great God who rules over all.  They are amazing if you ever get the chance to visit.  I did a little driving, including a stretch through the most intense thunderstorm ever (it felt like Storm Chasing in the US) - it was hard not to think of Revelation and be awed a lot.

 

Back in Armonia, the last days were about winding down and handing over my responsibilities as a volunteer.  I went to Oaxaca to help with a group where, upon arrival, everyone asked me if I was going out to do something with Sr. Saul.  Apparently they didn't want me in the house, which was explained by a surprise party they threw later that evening.  Smoked meats, spring onions, massive tortillas and mountains of salad provided plenty to chew over physically while they asked me to talk to the students of the residence about my experiences (hopefully giving them something to chew over metaphorically).  It was a great chance to talk honestly about being a volunteer and to hear their thoughts.  It was moving - one of the new students, Moises, stood to ask if I would stay an extra year so the new ones could get to know me.  They had clubbed together and bought me a big wood-carved jaguar head (it's quite sizeable) to remind me of my time there.  (The jaguar is linked with much of Oaxaca's history, not only living up in the mountains where the students come from but considered in the ancient religions one of the gods).  With some tears and many hugs, I returned to Mexico, leaving my younger brothers and sisters in Oaxaca to start school and (hopefully) study hard.

 

Staying back in Alheli was a bit strange.  I hadn't been there most of the summer, nor had I spent much time at the Santa Cruz Community Centre.  In many ways, I think I had already left them emotionally, even if the Armonia staff hadn't gone through that process.  I worked three long hard days in the office having convinced Saul to work following a list (like a westerner?) and we were quite productive.  In many ways, the change from just 6 months previously was astounding.  Then I had been wondering whether to continue (after Liz, the other volunteer left) and had to fight to prove my reputation, integrity and worth.  This time, it could not have been different.  I was invited to meetings that I don't even think I should have been in, being party to senstive ministry information and even being asked my opinion of how they should move forwards.  I know many of you have prayed for improvements in my working relationship with the Cruzes and this really is proof that those petitions have been answered.

 

And so more farewells came.  First at the office, then the community centre (that was pretty emotional) and lastly to the guys at the residence (they tried hard to behave like 'real men' but still didn't manage to keep the tears back!).  I had the chance to use my last £20 to take the Cruzes, Dani and the students out to dinner (by the way, notice £20 to feed 9!) and we swapped stories and remembered good times.  I will miss all those friends I made out there.

 

Many of you and many of them have asked me if I'm going back.  I will.  But I don't know when.  I don't think I can promise things when I don't know how the next chapter of my life will unfold.  But of some things I am sure, having either learnt them or had them reinforced this year.  And this is how I want to fill my 14th and last newsletter.

 

~God is faithful.  The number of prayers both general and specific that have been answered demonstrates that again and again.  Pat (who organised my Eden prayer group for the year) chuckled that it was good to see items on the petition list one month and then the praise list the next because they had been answered.  Just consider my big worries for the year: safety, health and language.  I was only properly ill once and that was something I caught in the UK (or ate on the plane).

~Christ is sufficient.  I would not have made it through this year on my own.  I know I would have given up.  I now know my limits but they are not based in me alone.  He is sufficient to give all perseverance to persevere, all strength to be strong, all forgiveness to be forgiven and all love to keep loving.

~Armonia is onto something.  20+ years of walking alongside the poor, self-sacrificially serving all their needs with God's love again and again has not been for nothing.  This changes lives.  This transforms poverty into full life.  And this has radically altered the way I think about my engagement with the poor.  Secular aid organisations CANNOT make poverty history without the gospel because it will always come back to a financial cost-benefit balance sheet, not a sacrificial outpouring of energy, health, time and ultimately lives to serve others.  That's what Jesus did.  That's what we should do.  I want to stay involved in this, but what does it all mean in the UK?  I guess this year I will start exploring that in my mind.

~Service means no expectations.  After years of 'serving' in various things (usually those that would gain more glory) I realise I have often done it for the attention and positive comments afterwards.  True servants think only of the treasures in heaven and serve in all ways, even when they know they will never ever be recognised.

 

There are many more but they are the highlights that come to mind.  It has been a tremendous year, in the experiences I have had, the things I have been through and the things I have learnt.  And so to round off, having started newsletter 1 with a request that you stay in touch and pray for me, I end with some thank yous. 

 

To God for His power, strength, grace and salvation.

To Saul and Pilar for their vision, patience with me, trust in me and love of me

To Zoe for consistently ringing, emailing, praying and supporting so generously

To Mum and Dad for the little text messages and phone calls and the willingness to let me go to a foreign and dangerous place!

To Pat and Steve for organising my Eden prayer group and all those who went along - I love you guys :)

To Jean Newstead, Karuna and other for representing me at Surrey Chapel

To Julian, Marvin and Tom C for preparing me well beforehand and wise guidance during tough times earlier this year

And to all of you who thought of me occasionally and sent quick little messages across from time to time.

 

So who knows what you have taken out of this string of newsletters.  Hopefully you understand a little more of what I did out in Mexico.  Hopefully also a little more of what Armonia does.  Perhaps it has even challenged you in the way you live too.  I am back now and although I don't doubt that God has more interesting and challenging things in store for me, I think now is the time to wrap this line of communication up.  I will stay involved in Armonia UK so expect me to keep talking about them.  www.armonia-uk.org.uk is the place to go for more information.

 

So thank to you all.

 

May God have all the Glory for whatever He has shown you this year.

 

Consider this from 1 John 3 (NIV):

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us."

 

Chris

:)

 

No work and lots of goodbyes

Well, the year was almost always going to end. And here I am inside the last 100 hours I have in Armonía and it all seems a bit weird. After weaning them off Chris by a lovely holiday with my parents, I'm back again to arrange a few things, help a group and hand over to next year's lot! So, despite there being so many projects on the go, they're not giving them to me. This is 1) entirely sensible and 2) just a bit strange after spending a year being the recipient of such projects.
And then there's the matter of goodbyes. I left the Oaxaca residence yesterday (Saturday) after a long set of goodbye-saying which started with a leaving party on Friday night. Strangely, the party felt more weird than the actual act of leaving, perhaps as the many weird, wonderful, funny, bad and good things that have happened over the year were recounted. But in leaving I felt tired but content. I feel that by God's grace I have been allowed to succeed in my work in Oaxaca, I have won many new friends and I know I want to return soon. Perhaps some of the things I said to the students will stick with them and encourage them but I'll leave that to God.
And then today the ladies at the centre threw another leaving party. I walk away with more encouragement and little gifts from all sorts of people. It was emotional but the real goodbyes start on Tuesday and Wednesday. And then the flying home on Thursday. And that'll be it! Wow.

Peda-words by kerosene lamp

Having worked pretty much non-stop since the beginning of June, it has been amazing to come away with my parents to the Copper Canyon (near Chihuahua) for a week’s holiday. Being out of Armonía has afforded me plenty of time to think, reflect and let my mind wander. And during one of these moments as we drove up here we passed the ‘Universidad Pedagogica Nacional’. And this prompted me to wonder what the translation of pedagogica in English was. Without a dictionary we quickly realised that there were a mountain of peda words in English.
So over dinner by the light of kerosene lamps (the place we’re staying at has the ‘rustic’ feel of no electricity) we got thinking.
Pedogy = the study of soils. Adj: pedogical
Podiatry = the study of feet. Adj: podiatrical
Paediatrics = the study of children. Adj: paediatrical
Pedagogy = the study of teaching, instructing and training. Adj: pedagogical (try saying that after some drinks)
Pedantic = what I’m being.

Newsletters 13: One year of AIMS - filling foundations and constructing columns.

Hello.

Well good afternoon from the road between Oaxaca and Puebla.  It seems that with all the groups coming and going, my only free time to catch up on sleep and correspondence is when I'm in transit!  And so, having written to you from a bus last time about preparing the houses, thinking about expanding the Oaxaca students', hard working groups and forming international friendships, I am sitting on exactly the same bus with the same driver doing the same route, and find myself with time to write a little missive.

It's hot and very sunny at the moment which, combined with eating salsa and tortillas, is turning my skin and eyes browner.  (Apparently this is improving my Spanish).  But Lynn will be happy to hear that it's raining every afternoon.  Hard oreographically-driven convectional thunderstorms that roll down the hills surrounding the site bring a fresh katabatic wind.  Mmmm; geography.  Some days, it seems that no sooner have we done the pipe-sucking-gravity-drain trick (I'm losing my English I think - why didn't I just use the word 'siphon'?) to empty the unplanned swimming pools than nature starts to fill them up.  But I don't mind because it's nice to cool off in the afternoon and, after all, who needs to shower in the evening if you've worked out in a downpour?

The highlight of the last month has been a celebration of the first anniversary of the Armonía Indigenous Mexican Scholar's (AIMS) Program site in Oaxaca City.  Although AIMS has been running a lot longer, principally in a site called Yalalag in the mountains above the main city, they were violently expelled early last year.  Although this was disappointing and depressing for the Armonía directors they had been generously given a significant sum of money to buy a new house.  A confusing set of events pushed them towards the city – an apparently trustworthy woman sold the house they had settled on in the single day between them agreeing a price and coming back with the money.  Perplexed and ready to send the money back the donors told them they should find somewhere else and then provided extra money to allow a bigger house to be bought.  However, just before paying for the house, Sr. Saul was called over by the official who asked him if he had given any money to the owner.  He replied that he hadn't and was surprised to hear that the papers were forged.  Without knowing this they would have lost a 6-figure dollar sum!  The donors once again refused to be re-paid and the current worksite was bought and some rented accommodation found.  On the 3rd and 4th July, a total of 14 malnourished, mistreated yet happy students left Yalalag and were reunited with Snr. Saul, Sra. Pilar and Dani in an emotional meeting.  And AIMS Oaxaca City was born, coaxed into rebirth by God's grace.  Talk about being refined by fire.

A few weeks ago, we held a large celebration in the residence, broadcast over the net to Santa Cruz, Presidentes, Jalalpa, the US, Germany and the UK.  If you didn't get to see it live there is still a recording on our webcast site: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/556239 Sr. Saul recounted these events, Sergio played the clarinet beautifully, some students told their stories, people wrote in over the net and the team of Fran, Craig, Stuart (my bro), Heather, Sarah, Rosemary and Anna helped in many ways with the technology, by singing In Christ Alone and translating.  It was a beautiful moment and if you have a moment you should look it up.

Talking of the Eden group and my brother, I should inform you that they have been working very hard, achieving the milestone of moving, filling and compacting 14 tonnes of dirt in 2 days to help the construction.  They've moved briefly in most parts of Armonía; helping Sr. Saul in the office, doing inventories, working on Summer Course preparation and giving classes, construction in Oaxaca, interacting with the AIMS students and, this week, running a special week of activities for the kids of the ladies at Santa Cruz.  They have been an excellent group and have worked humbly and steadily despite some illnesses or the dreaded 'Armonía-fatigue'.  The latter has been mainly seen as I watch them slowly dropping off in one of the famous 4 hour (or longer) meetings that are sometimes held here.  There have been plenty of comical moments when we've been together – Rosemary trying hard not to tell everyone that she has many men when she's actually hungry, Heather having to change her name to Miriam for ease of pronunciation and the ladies' impressions of Fran's charismatic Argentinean accent.  Banter.  But their experience has clearly had an impact (hopefully positive) and they were able to leave on Sunday proud of what they have achieved.

Whilst they have been here, the groups have continued to come and I have been mainly based in Oaxaca.  This has had the disadvantage that I'm not able to hold my usual English classes in Santa Cruz, or help out with the kids that I love so much there, but I have been able to take on new roles in the South of the country.  It is nice to 'make up' for spending so much time up in Mexico City in the winter and spring, although it is much hotter here and I do have to live out of a bag all the time.  Not literally of course.  The construction has been moved forwards incredibly by two groups from Willow Creek PCA Florida and a recent visit by Twin Oaks PCA St. Louis led by Wes and Stephanie Vanderlugt, who are to be my successors.  This last week we have not been directly supervised by the directors – Joaquín and I have been running everything, more or less successfully.  We have completed a week without anyone going hungry or anyone getting ill and we only lost one visitor so we're confident we've done OK.

Twin Oaks has finished off filling the foundations and set a record of setting and concreting 4 columns for the second floor in just one afternoon.  Which is impressive.  But better has been the way in which they have interacted with the AIMS older brothers and sisters.  These guys are mostly new to Armonía and form the hosting team; the new university entrants have gone to Mexico City and A-level students haven't returned yet from holidays back to their villages.  All the new students had two weeks in a camp out at the worksite to see whether they fitted what Armonía is looking for (and whether they want to be with us) and now have a slightly better idea of what is required of them.  The most obvious thing is their energy and enthusiasm.  They are truly taking this opportunity with both hands and seeing that Armonía can help them in so many ways.  In a recent teaching session, when asked whether they would be able to go to university without Armonía none of them put their hands up.  Such is the chance they are being given, but it's so much more as they learn to live in community and to serve others in mutual love. 

Mum commented when she was here how much she would like to have these guys as her students for their willingness.  To hear Job (pronounced "hob") learning English phrases from the visitors – yesterday he was mixing cement, paused for a moment, pointed to a girl and announced to the whole team; "This is my wife.  She is very beautiful."  If only I could convey his accent – we laughed so much.  Another (girl) visitor joined in; "But I thought I was your wife?".  He paused for a moment and then pronounced: "I choose later.  Please wait."  Priceless.  He has started copying me when I give instructions, his current favourite phrase being "OK guys; let's go" as he tries to move the group from one place to the other.

Mum and Dad have had a good two weeks in Armonía and I think it has helped them to understand some of the events of this year.  It's been fun working with them – I haven't had to keep Dad in check too much (phew)!  Actually he's been very useful in a plumbing capacity – tracking down leaks in Alheli – and sorting out a mess the work site plumber made of the black and grey water drainage.  To have him come to me and say he'd sorted his tubes out was perhaps something I could have done without though.  Mum has become something of a column preparation expert.  The program didn't allow her time enough to teach sewing but she has faithfully prepared the bases, levelling them out ready to put the tubing over which forms the concrete.  She did have a moment on the tamping machine, bringing the normally wild bouncing thing under strict control.  It didn't dare mis-behave…

I would love to talk a little more about the Santa Cruz summer course but I really haven't been there at all.  I've heard very little (except that it's going well) so I am unable to relay much.  Nor will I be able to say much because I have a chance for a week's holiday/rest with Mum and Dad starting on Wednesday and then I have just a week left which will be spent into Oaxaca.  My time is almost done and I'm increasingly looking ahead to the future, trying to deconstruct what I've learnt, attempting to understand what God wants for me in the years to come and planning for the many things coming up in the next few weeks.  But that's for another newsletter.

I've put a whole load more photos up from the groups which have visited us here in Oaxaca so have a look at how things are progressing at: http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisprimmer

Thank you again for your summer news and birthday notes.  I felt very blessed to have so many people remember me even when I've been away for so long.

So until 3 weeks' time,
God bless,
Chris

http://mexicanchris.blogspot.com/

Celebrate One Year of the Oaxaca City Armonía Students Residence

Something that may interest you...
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Dear friends,

It is with great joy that we announce to you that this Sunday (July 13) Armonía will be celebrating the one year anniversary of the students' residence in Oaxaca City, Mexico. 

The Armonía Indigenous Mexican Scholar's (AIMS) Program seeks to give an opportunity to excellent students from indigenous backgrounds.  They are given the possibility of winning scholarships to finish their senior high schooling and then, after a year of preparation for university and service of their younger brothers and sisters in the Armonía family, they have the possibility to gain entry into some of the top universities in the country.  It is one of the most exciting projects in Armonía at the moment and we recently received 24 new students who are currently in a camp to help them understand the program.  The camp is at the land we bought last year where we are building our first residence and where so many of our visitors will visit this summer to participate in constructing a residence and relationships with the community.

As our friends around the world, we invite you to join us via the web and participate in giving thanks to God for the achievements, challenges, difficulties and growth of the residence over the last year.  Many of you have been involved in the gradual evolution of this program; praying for us; donating money, time and gifts; coming in person to help us construct; building relationships with the wonderful young people who are our students; and in many many more ways.  You are a part of this program as well and for this reason it is very important to us that you are included in this moment of reflection.

At 2pm in Mexico on the 13th July (7pm GMT, 8pm London, 3pm Orlando, 2pm Chicago, 1pm Los Angeles), we will start the service and broadcast it live via the internet.  Please log onto our very own webcast site: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/aims-armonia-mexico to see us -  although the audio-visual feed is one-way, there is the option to send instant messages to Oaxaca.  Do send us your thoughts and messages!  We would love for you to be a part of this moment when we publicly thank God for His faithfulness and petition Him for the coming year.

With many blessings from everyone in Armonía,
Saul and Pilar Cruz

P.S: If the link doesn't work, please go to www.ustream.tv and search for 'AIMS Armonia'.  We are the first hit on the search results.

Celebrate One Year of the Armonía Oaxaca Students' Residence

Dear friends,

It is with great joy that we announce to you that this Sunday (July 13) Armonía will be celebrating the one year anniversary of the students' residence in Oaxaca City, Mexico.

The Armonía Indigenous Mexican Scholar's (AIMS) Program seeks to give an opportunity to excellent students from indigenous backgrounds. They are given the possibility of winning scholarships to finish their senior high schooling and then, after a year of preparation for university and service of their younger brothers and sisters in the Armonía family, they have the possibility to gain entry into some of the top universities in the country. It is one of the most exciting projects in Armonía at the moment and we recently received 24 new students who are currently in a camp to help them understand the program. The camp is at the land we bought last year where we are building our first residence and where so many of our visitors will visit this summer to participate in constructing a residence and relationships with the community.

As our friends around the world, we invite you to join us via the web and participate in giving thanks to God for the achievements, challenges, difficulties and growth of the residence over the last year. Many of you have been involved in the gradual evolution of this program; praying for us; donating money, time and gifts; coming in person to help us construct; building relationships with the wonderful young people who are our students; and in many many more ways. You are a part of this program as well and for this reason it is very important to us that you are included in this moment of reflection.

At 2pm in Mexico on the 13th July (7pm GMT, 8pm London, 3pm Orlando, 2pm Chicago, 1pm Los Angeles), we will start the service and broadcast it live via the internet. Please log onto our very own webcast site: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/aims-armonia-mexico to see us - although the audio-visual feed is one-way, there is the option to send instant messages to Oaxaca. Do send us your thoughts and messages! We would love for you to be a part of this moment when we publicly thank God for His faithfulness and petition Him for the coming year.

With many blessings from everyone in Armonía,
Saul and Pilar Cruz

P.S: If the link doesn't work, please go to www.ustream.tv and search for 'AIMS Armonia'. We are the first hit on the search results.

Re: Newsletter 12: Oaxaca work, bilingual blunders and adventures with Americans

Following a number of comments, I feel I ought to write a slight clarification on one of the 'bilingual blunders'. The students only ever asked me for a sheet [of paper] and would never use swear words. It's just that when they asked for a sheet, it usually sounded like the second phrase, much to the shock or amusement of the native English speakers. The point was that it didn't matter since we were all learning by making mistakes in each other's languages.
Apologies [sheepish grin].
Chris

Newsletter 12: Oaxaca work, bilingual blunders and adventures with Americans

Helloooo!

Boiler watch (the only thing more boring than badger watch with Ben Fogel): Rumour has it that we now have a functioning boiler in Alheli. Bring on the first hot shower of 2008…

I write to you this time semi-comatose on a bus battling its way through the traffic of Ojo de Agua. I've just been part of the group to drop the first real group of the summer off at the airport. My day started off dark at ridiculous-o-clock in Oaxaca, then there was a bit which I don't really remember having been mainly asleep (and, according to the Americans, snoring for England) and then we hit the good ole stop-start Mexico City traffic. Roberto and Felix, our drivers, have brought us safely back all the way to the heart of the country and we're grateful to God for a safe journey (what I remember of it!).

It's been the end of a hard 4 weeks. After the Vision Trip in the middle of May we had a few days off as we tried to take stock of what was happening with the summer groups and what needed to be done with the new houses we are renting in Oaxaca. My massive spreadsheet sprung into action, finding uses in creating small summaries, mail merge emails and general confusion when anyone except me tried to use it.

We quickly realised that the two houses we are renting while construction continues needed a little work. Not that they were badly constructed – au contraire! They are well built and rented to us by our neighbours who are also Christians and very much behind the work with indigenous students from the Oaxacan Sierra. (These are the neighbours who donate 50 small bread rolls to us weekly.) But we did need to paint just about the entire house, seal off a part upstairs where the rain came directly in, and put in lights, sockets and shower curtains. Joaquín sorted out the water system and Avelino started to build aluminium doors to divide the dormitories into girls' and boys' rooms. Apparently girls prefer their room to have a door; weird. Eric painted the massive garage doors copper-coloured and Efrain (who I discovered is actually called Echaín) literally painted the outside of the house (orange by the way). Pilar went and bought a small mountain of decorations – little plant pots and ceramic… things. And Saul and I sat in the middle, working through the pile of admin. It was fun, and I got little breaks to go and bash things or drill or saw or do manly things and assert my masculinity. And then I undid all that by trying to teach the students how to cook chocolate chip cookies. (I can hear Mum saying: 'what a chauvinist comment!')

Every time I go to Oaxaca, I love it more and more. The project is definitely one of the most exciting of Armonía's at the moment. The weekend we arrived, 40 prospective students and their parents were visiting to see if they wanted to join the AIMS Program (Armonía Indigenous Mexican Scholars). They got the tour of the construction site and Saul spent time explaining the running of the houses, the older brother scheme, the year of service and how Armonía staff and volunteers (like me!) fit into the overall picture. That night, the current students cooked all the visitors (a total of 70 people) a huge dinner. What a great picture of that way that Armonía unites people. There were Mexicans, like Saul and Pilar, Chinotecos, like Joaquín and his parents, Mixe, like Nico's brothers and sisters, Zapotecos, like a group of 4 lads who travelled 5 hours to express a desire to study medicine, Americans and of course, the obligatory Englishman. What jolly good fun it was! And although we didn't all speak each other's language, hand-waving, gesturing and charades helped us communicate in community.

The house preparations were very necessary to get everything ready for the summer. Unfortunately, we didn't quite complete everything on time. A quick phone call to Saul as they were arriving bought us more minutes as the bus took unnecessary detours and even did the same piece of road a few times. Now you might ask, why all the effort for just a group of visitors? Well, they were paying to come and help us so it's important that they find themselves accommodated comfortably. But the summer visit scheme is the logical extension of the Casablanca hotel income-generation program so it's doubly important that we maintain good standards (plus, we can't be sleeping comfortably whilst our visitors sleep on the floor.) The money generated by their visits allows Armonía to be self-supporting and to manage its own income (for salaries and scholarships especially), without dependency on outside sources. Sensible really when donors have been known to give very little notice before pulling out altogether.

And so the group arrived and, after a slow first morning, were whisked off to the work site to start. And boy did they work! In Oaxaca it rains almost every day at about 4pm. Not apathetically British rain - it absolutely chucks it down. And without much warning. But the group, mainly composed of 15 to 18 year old boys and girls, just kept on shovelling dirt as we filled in the foundations. But they didn't just work because they had too. Come heavy rain or strong sun, there were smiles and jokes, and laughter rang around the site. I felt particularly blessed to be there to see their servant-heartedness. It's something amazing when God touches people's hearts so that they give their all without expecting anything back. That challenged me about the attitude I should have as I recover from aches all over and serve my remaining 9 weeks here.

And this attitude of joy in work and play continued all week. By the end, they had moved and compacted 31 trucks of dirt (220 tons!). That milestone put us ahead of schedule. Great friendships were made between Mexican and American students, even though vocal communication was limited. Everyone saw the funny side of one American guy's faltering attempts to say 'tengo hambre' (I am hungry) which came out as 'tengo hombre' (I have a man). And the Mexicans who try to ask 'can I have a sheet [of paper]?' but end up asking 'can I have a s**t?'. But it didn't matter – they were here to serve with joy. Everyone found my accent amusing, causing me to assert my Cambridgeness more. "That's right old chap – jolly hockey sticks. Scones and cream for tea?". They laughed but I know they had no idea what I was going on about!

By the end of the week, the closeness was obvious as tears were shed in public in thanks for the gifts of love and friendship. Sergio, in particular, was touched. At his entrance exam to the Mexican National School of Music, he was told that if he didn't get a new clarinet, he wouldn't be allowed in. A family in Titusville heard and bought a brand new top-of-the-range Buffet, which was presented to Sergio during the trip. He wept with joy. I have just finished translating his thank you note for him and it is obvious he can't express his gratitude to them and God enough.

So why do I write all this to you? Well not just because I am, as one recent [deluded?!?] reply put it, "so consistently funny" and your lives need lightening up! If only that were so. No, I really think this small interaction shows the pinnacle of Armonía's work at the moment and gives just a small picture of what heaven will be like (without the crazy charades!). A multitude from all tribes and nations, races and languages, gathered in glorifying service and worship to The King. And as I go back to work on more group admin, that shadow of things to come keeps me serving, through all the emails and letters and spreadsheets and organisation.

My brother is coming soon so watch this space for reports of double trouble as mini-Rimmer hits Mexico. You have been warned. In the meantime, thank you for your prayers, emails of support and interest in my life abroad (even if my letters can get a bit long-winded!).

Que Dios les bendiga,
Chris

I write my short comments and recount amusing moments when I can at http://mexicanchris.blogspot.com
I just put April and May photos up at http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisprimmer too

April and May photos

http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisprimmer/AprilAndMay

Gasman

Here in Mexico, gas does not arrive by tubes in the street. At least in none of the places where Armonía works. Instead it comes around on the back of 19,000L tankers which are always accompanied by a gassy smell. For some reason I doubt their structural integrity and generally try to stay clear of them…
There are a variety of different companies which come down our road at ridiculous hours of the day, blaring music to get our attention. And we have a good choice even if we’ve been told not to trust their measurements (they often give you less than they sell you).
The other day, there I was, waiting by the front gate the other day armed with my calculator and ready to do [Spanish] mathematical battle with whoever was going to try to sell me short. When I heard a new advertisement. As the tanker turned into our road the unmistakable Batman theme music was very audible. It went something like:
Na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na. Na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na. GASMAN! Gasman! GASMAN!
That made my day, that did.

An innovative people

Over the last few weeks I have become increasingly convinced that the Mexicans are very innovative. Well maybe it's not the category of 'Mexicans' but 'the poor' - of whom the majority I meet at the moment are Mexicans.

You see, a lot of the time, in this blog I write about things which amuse me out here. And I'm pretty sure that in some people's minds, I bulldoze some cultural sensitivity boundaries each time I put finger to keyboard in this blog. They're things which I find quaint, interesting and even, dare I use such a shocking and inappropriate word, backward. For those of you who reeled when you read that, please don't misunderstand it. I'm not appealing for a return to colonialism... well, except for the United States of Everywhere, which I am still convinced belongs to us. Nor do I think that I am/we are better than the Mexicans. Underneath God, all men (and women, people and others) are equal. Fact. But Mexico is far behind the West in terms of many things: technology, infrastructure, administration, governance and so on... and this means that occasionally the way in which things are done is, well, different.

But we have much to learn from these people. In relationships and ideas of community, we in the UK lag behind by miles. Needless to say, no-one here finds it acceptable to walk around with their mobile phone playing crappy R'n'B music on speakerphone. That's a massive bonus (and I don't know when that became socially acceptable in the UK). But the other thing is that we are definitely not as innovative as these remarkable Mexicans. Perhaps the opulence in which we live has just taken the edge off our creativity and dulled our entrepreneurial spirit but we are the ones that lag behind.

Simply put, if there's an opportunity to make money, someone will be doing it. For example: the Metro costs 2 pesos (10p) to ride anywhere and everywhere, so the street sellers buy a ticket and sell inside the trains to their very literally captive audience. And they get good sales. Some major roads in Mexico City consist of a dual carriageway with another dual-lane road either side in either direction, separated from the main road by a dirt reservation. On the busiest roads, where queues are inevitable 3 or 4 times a day, the locals have removed the kerbs and barriers, and constructed dirt tracks to allow traffic to pass from the main road to the minor road where alternative routes can be found. They then manage the entry and exit traffic and collect tips as a result. Ingenious!

And then there are the ways of getting around spending so much money, like the welder I saw in Ojo de Agua the other day. Somewhat irritated by having to pay for his electricity, he had obviously decided that the un-metered mains electricity lines were an adequate substitute, climbed a ladder with two giant crocodile clips and attached them to the first phase and return lines. When I cycled by he was happily welding away, presumably induced by not having to pay current prices. Shocking. Wire the police not energised enough to make a fuse about this? Surely his resistance to the norms of receiving electricity would be enough to spark an argument with the company. Or perhaps they don't have the capacity to fight back because it looked like he was ohm-ing them.

He he. Enough puns. We should learn from them as my welding friend sheds some light on how to be innovative. They're really good at that.

(and no I didn't write this entire post just to give me an opportunity to sit and think of electrifying puns).

Newsletter 11: Gaining the Vision of serving the poor

Well, here is the latest newsletter from México.  The summer is hotting up (both literally and figuratively) as we get to the final stages of planning group visits and the sun stays longer and longer overhead.  Regular rain punctuates the days, making planning my travel to and from the centres more interesting as I try to dodge the downpours!

Things have been a bit easier and better here recently.  Saul and Pilar reacted to my tired-induced lapse by shifting some of the house responsibilities around.  I now only cook breakfast for the university students on Mondays and Tuesdays – the others take turns to fill in the three days I now don't do.  Consequently I find myself in the interesting position of being able to talk about having a 2 hour lie-in… until 7am.  I never thought that I would put the words '2 hour lie-in' and 7am in the same sentence!  However, it is remarkable what an extra 6 hours sleep has made to my life and my work. 

So I have been motoring along in my new-found energy, finishing jobs which have been hanging over me left, right and centre.  Painting lamps in Casablanca (which really were hanging over me left, right and centre), preparing our roof for waterproofing, helping arrange group visits for June, sorting out drainpipes which revealed their state of repair when the rains came and the basketball court flooded while we were doing traditional dance practice (that is, the practice of traditional dance rather than a traditional, dance practice).  As someone who likes to work through lists, it has been very satisfying to be back on the case (finally!).

The most recent event in Armonía was the arrival of a Vision Trip.  This is a special type of visit where people come for about 4 or 5 days to see what Armonía does.  As the name suggests, we try to impart the vision of what we're doing here.  This means that the visitors don't actually do any work but we hope that they get catch the idea and take it back to create more supporters in their home country.  This is a great way to get the word out but they also generate income by staying in our accommodation.  However, the implication is that we need to show them as much as possible and this means a whistle-stop tour of everything. 

13 Americans came with Greg Holzhauer (one of the Armonía international board of advisors) and we went to Casablanca, Alheli, Santa Cruz, Jalalpa, Presidentes, Hornos, Betsy's house and other sites just on Saturday and Sunday morning.  They joined us at the Sunday service at Santa Cruz when we officially celebrated Joaquín's graduation.  It was quite moving to hear of his testimony of how God brought him to Armonía and later to God, and how through the ministry of Saul, Pilar and Armonía, he is now the only person in his tribe to have a degree.  Amazing.  He wants to study more and is going to return to Oaxaca to look after the students' residence there.

We hurtled down to Oaxaca where we spent a good 2 days in the students' residence, introducing the current scholars.  There were actually about 70 of us in total because prospective students and their parents were visiting.  They had travelled up to 12 hours to come and find out about Armonía so it seems our influence is spreading, mainly through word-of-mouth.  In total 22 students want to enter which will bring the total to somewhere near 40 (the capacity of the new residence building).  All were offered a bed for the night and all accepted, creating a few hours of manic blanket, mattress, sheet and pillow finding.  I and some of the staff ended up sleeping on the bed boards to allow the visitors some comfort.  Although I slept quite deeply after such a crazy day, the next morning, my back made it quite clear that it preferred a mattress on top of the bed boards!

It seems that the vision trip didn't just impact on the visitors because I had some great experiences as part of it and return to Mexico City really enthused by the vision of what they're doing here in Oaxaca.  I love spending time with the current students and when we were back in the house we spent a lot of time doing English because it's just so much easier than teaching over Skype.  I am starting to enjoy translating more and more and can almost do simultaneous Spanish-English.  ☺  Apart from excitement about what this project could achieve in this area, one of the most memorable events was going out to the Stone Soup Restaurant.  This serves fish soup (admittedly not my favourite) with shrimps (also not particularly high on my list of food to eat) but they heat the food with stones.  It's an old Chinotec (indigeous) method to heat food.  They would prepare everything; water, vegetables, the fish and the shrimp, and heat it gently on a stove in a fruit cask (I never worked out what fruit but it's a hard, hollowed-out cask about the size of a large coconut).  When the king would arrive for dinner after a hard day's rulin', they would drop a stone heated in a fire in the soup.  Cue much sizzling and bubbling, steam and vapour.  Wait a few minutes and you have your dinner ready to eat.  Definitely a multi-sensory experience.  Especially if you ask for one with chilli.

We visited what may be the largest tree in the world.  It measures a staggering 58m in circumference and just 42 in height.  Even Houghts would struggle to get his arms around this one.  To add to what is already a remarkable botanical feature, the tour guide was 8 years old.  He amused us with his English, shouting: "Alligator.  Can you see?  Can you see?  Can you see?" as he pointed out the various shapes which were apparently visible.  Emphasis on the 'apparently'!  And to get us to move: "Come on please!".  At the end he held out his hand and said: "Pencils, money or candy".  And then added: "Or dollars".  We learnt he could do the tour in Spanish, English, French, German, Flemmish and Italian.  Most impressive was the 6 year old who followed him round – "He's in training but doesn't know the tour yet" we were told – and he shared half the tip with him.

So I'm now sitting in the Armonía house on a quiet morning with beautiful blue sky outside, working on this in a gap between helping plan group visits and, reflecting on the last few weeks, life is good.  The calling I received to come here was clear and I am learning incredible things about how to walk alongside the poor.  One of my best friends asked me recently how I cope being surrounded by poverty but not being able to do much about it.  It was an interesting question and I haven't yet answered her directly.  Sometimes it's difficult to cope.  When I walk into Ana Maria's house in one of the poorest areas of Mexico City near the Jalalpa Community Centre and realise that my garden shed is better constructed than that, I am overwhelmed with sadness.  How can the world be so unequal and unfair?  But then I remember there is hope and the promise of justice because although it's right that I can't do much about it, I know the One who can.  The One who let us ruin what was a perfect world in our selfishness and who calls us to go out and serve depending fully on the strength He gives us in His great love for us.  We know for a fact that he loves us - he has already demonstrated that on the cross – and He calls us to give up our lives in love for our brothers and sisters too.  That's why it's clear to me that however worthy and useful they are, secular aid or development organisations cannot beat poverty because they are not willing to sacrifice.  Full-stop.  They are not willing to invest time, gifts, money, health or even their lives where there seems like there will be no return for them personally.  I see Saul and Pilar demonstrating the opposite here.  The Christian Gospel, the 'Good News', which I am utterly convinced is true and changes lives, calls me not to cope but to serve with a faith based on fact in the past and looking to the future.  That's what it means to deny myself, take up my cross and follow Him.  And God will do the rest.

With love and blessings,
Chris

Oración Matutina

In our Armonía hymnbooks we have a wide selection of songs which cover quite a few moods and settings. We've sung this one recently and it's become one of my favourites - a good one to hum when cooking up the breakfast at 5 in the morning. :)

Oración Matutina (Morning Prayer)

Te agradezco (I thank You)
Por el nuevo día de hoy, Señor (for the new day today Lord)
Por la gracia de dejarme aún vivir (for the grace of letting me live more)
Por el sol (for the sun)
Que me dejas otra vez mirar (that You've allowed me to see again)
Y el sonido del ambiente escuchar (and the sound of the environment that I hear).

Cada día (every day)
Al despertarme pienso en Ti, Señor (when I wake up I think about You, Lord)
Y te doy muchas gracias por tu amor (and I give You thanks for Your love)
Este día (this day)
Es una nueva oportunidad (is a new opportunity)
Que me das para hacer tu voluntad (that You are giving me to do Your will)

Quiero serte fiel (I want to be faithful to You)
En este día de hoy Señor (during this day, today, Lord)
Y te pido me, ayudes a triunfar (and I ask You to allow me to succeed)
Mi deseo es a mi prójimo siempre servir (my desire is to serve my neighbour)
Y tu Nombre con mi vida bendecir (and to bless Your Name with my life)

Gracias te doy Señor (I give You thanks Lord)
Ayúdame (Help me)
Quiero servirte sólo a Ti (I want to serve only You)
Ayúdame hoy (help me today)

Amen.

Newsletter 10: Quiet times and hard times

Dear friends,

It is such a long time since I last wrote to you back in March.  For this I apologise.  It's actually been 6 weeks and I've just read the last newsletter to remember what happened.  We left the unfolding story of Chris' adventure in Armonía at the climax of a busy period working all hours painting irritatingly small windows.  What would he do now that there wasn't much to do?  Would he all go [more] mad from lack of work?  Would he sleep for a week?

Well, if these were your questions, the answers would be 'different work', 'no' and 'no'.  We rested, yes, but the concept of time-off seems somewhat foreign to Armonía.  And for good reason because, like the police say about crime, poverty doesn't call in sick or take the day off.  I'll talk about it a bit later but I have come to a new realisation of just how hard it is to be poor.

So what has been going on since March 12?  The important news, Lynn, is that it has got hotter.  We now feel the burning burning burning sun and regularly hit 30 degrees.  However, the rainy season is now upon us and the daily showers cool the evening air (which I like).  Unfortunately, this does have the disagreeable spin-off of huge puddles of oily, mucky water in the streets and the occasional river of sewage when the sewers burst.  Mum will be pleased to know I have started to wash once a week instead of once a fortnight as a result!  [JOKE]  But I won't complain because I don't rust and I like it cool in the evenings.  And that's the weather; back to Chris in the studio…

The week after I last wrote saw the visit of the International Board of Directors.  They are a group of older Americans and 'British' (as Saul calls them) who act to advise the Cruzes on all matters Armonía.  They also bring lots of money.  ☺  My job as we visited all the projects was to stick close to them and translate, as well as give insight into what was going on.  This was made easier once I knew who they were (which made meeting them at the airport somewhat difficult), but we soon got along.  It turns out that the Doc from 'Back to the Future' is a board member going by the name of Simon Webley from Ditton, Kent.  It's the hair that gives it away.  We had a lot of fun together and having been with Armonía since the beginning, they were able to share with me many stories of Armonia's work in the past.  Stories of people who have been helped, amazing ways in which God has acted through Armonía in Mexico City and how a chocolate company once delivered 52 crates of chocolates for the Jalalpa community.  There was apparently a chocolate mountain in the centre because one crate contained 32 boxes which each contained over 100 individual sweets.  They swopped them for much more useful stuff and even used them to barter for petrol on a journey to Oaxaca.  Banter.

We visited Oaxaca where the students continue to study hard.  I thought of a new name on the journey: The AIMS Project (Armonía Indigenous Mexican Scholars' Project).  Quite pleased with that.  Also, I've been frequently writing about the project there in my correspondence with the visitors coming in the summer so I have a much better idea of what they are doing there.  In addition to giving educational opportunities for these very poor indigenous students, they are seeking to train them in creating a caring community where you learn to serve your peers in Christ.  This is why we have the 'hermano mayor' (older brother) scheme where certain students (that's me here in Alheli and others in Oaxaca) are responsible for running the house, cooking, organising cleaning and helping the others in their homework etc.  They are really growing in their love for God and one another through the Bible studies, training and input by Dani.  It was great to spend time with them, to do English lessons over the table rather than over Skype and to see the construction of the new dormitory buildings.  They've just finished the reinforcements for the foundations (I'll put some pictures up to show you just how much work it is) and have poured the concrete.  We should be done by July.

Back here in Casablanca, Nancy (the secretary) left to study pediatrics at university.  I can never remember which one is feet and which one children but I think it's the kids she's interested in.  We have a new secretary, Yolanda, who is definitely on the ball and has really settled in quickly.  By the time the groups start to arrive in mid-May, Saul wants her to be able to converse in English so I'm teaching her 2 hours a day.  This has made my English lessons something of a burden as I now teach 26 hours a week.  All the rest of the time I spend preparing or doing maintenance and there's not much time for anything else.

It's just as well then that Saul and Pilar are away travelling (some of you may have heard him preach at Eden recently) and so life in the office is much quieter.  Two weeks ago, I had a lovely week in the pool teaching swimming and rescuing drowning kids – now one of the thirteen children of the ladies at the centre can swim – and then I took more time off when Gareth and Chrissi visited as part of their grand Mexican tour. :) It was great to see them although it made me realise just how much English I have forgotten.

So lots of good things.  But it hasn't been plain sailing.  Last week, the ladies reached something of a crisis point and several of them were considering leaving.  Eli, Betsy and I were selling clothes at a market to generate money for the centre but the location is far away, and it makes for a very long day without good food or toilets.  To be honest, it was too much for Betsy and Eli to be selling out in the heat of the day and too much for the ladies left behind to manage the centre on their own.  And as the frustration and anger levels rose, I gained an insight into their lives.  Their Armonia 'allowance' isn't enough to live on so they have to work as well.  Before you exclaim 'why?', it is deliberate so that only people with a genuine interest to learn and serve come to work.  It gets raised later on.  Many of them are up at 6am, sorting out their house, getting their kids up and to school.  Then they come to Armonía and work to 6pm.  They go home, get the dinner on, study and play with their kids and then many of them do another 3-5 hours work.  They sell soap, intricate jellies, stone figurines; basically whatever they can get their hands on.  And early in the morning they sleep.  Until the alarm goes off at 6 and the cycle repeats.  Poverty is horrible.  Poverty is the culture within which they have to live because of a lack of opportunities.  Poverty is hard and relentless.  Without contact with Armonía, it is understandable why so many turn to drink or drugs to escape.  Thankfully we were able to change the timetable to make it easier.  But frankly I don't know how they do it.  Except for the grace and strength of God…

I too have had moments of doom and gloom.  With the extra burden of more students in Alheli I have found that if I don't get good rest at the weekend then I really lose the plot.  Last weekend was a good (bad?) example when things came to a head after I set a new record for a working day (5am to 3.30am) when there were some very urgent things to complete.  Obviously this doesn't count as resting and when Monday came I felt off the pace.  On Tuesday I took the whole day off after a bout of what can only be described as paranoia.  I felt very isolated, totally unmotivated and that I was just going through the motions in my relationships with God and people, and my work here.  Thankfully Dani was wise enough to let me stop and following a good day's thinking and reflecting, I hope I have set myself back on track.  I do need to be more careful about taking time out to read the Bible, pray and reflect on what I'm doing though and am considering a week away before the summer's madness begins.

Thankfully though, I'm much better now and I guess it was a good warning not to push myself too hard.  I do need to look after the old temple afterall.  Thank you for your prayers, thoughts, little emails, invites to weddings I can't attend and the like.  I hope this informs you a little bit more and I promise it won't be so long until the next email drops into your inbox with a satisfying 'ping' (or whatever sound you use).

Blessings,
Chris

Raining for England

So the rainy season has begun. I know this because of the wet patches on my ceiling. Somehow I think I might need to waterproof the roof this weekend before something has a little swim. And none of my things swim particularly strongly (least of all the laptop!).

But the rainy season means that each day at about 5pm, the clouds gather, the skies darken and we experience a Mexican ‘tormenta’. ‘Relámpago’ and ‘turenos’ respectively light the sky and scare the little kids. Tito and Rojo (the Armonía dogs) love the rain but hate the thunder. They scurry quickly into their doghouse; the storm achieving in seconds what we cannot do when we try to persuade them that sleeping on comfy blankets under a plastic roof is better than the flowerbed! Just thinking about it, there's got to be some joke in there about being in the doghouse when they won't go in the doghouse but I wouldn't think of writing it here. Although looking back on that sentence, I basically did do just that... Time to rein in the jokes and get back to the rain...

If I’m at the community centre, it become impossible to hold a conversation as the sound of the heavy rain on the metal roof drowns out all other sounds (think of the last time you were in a conservatory in a downpour). Yesterday the storm was accompanied by hail the size of small marbles that definitely hurt when they hit you. The regular rain (that is to say 'the fact that it rains a lot', rather than that we have 'regular' and 'irregular' rain here) makes me think of our green and pleasant land but the resulting floods on the roads and the fact that it’s dried up by the next morning reminds me that I’m in Mexico.
But hey, I’m not complaining because it cools the air for the night and I don’t rust.

(Word Alive Admin) * (Word Alive Admin) = Armonía admin

Everyone knows that organising students is a bit of a pain. And arranging things for Christians involves a lot of faff. So, as the event arrives, I wonder about the poor souls desperately trying to bash Christian students into order so that everyone arrives in Wales at the right time. I did it last year and remember it being good fun but hard work. Go get’em ACS Euromaster (as Fran would say).
But now, a new standard has arrived. Organising groups arriving at Armonía. It’s the word alive factor squared – Christians travelling to other countries where they will be hosted by an society not renown for its admin skills in a country that doesn’t have a word for ‘early’. I joke of course and probably bulldoze through some (many?) cultural sensitivity barriers but I feel like I have a new job to replace the word-alive-admin-shaped hole in my life.
It’s good fun being in charge of tracking who’s coming and where and when and how and what and waaahh! (Yes, I did just describe admin as fun). But the spreadsheet is growing as we expect almost 250 visitors here between June and September! And we need to make sure we don’t double-book beds or over book accommodations. Who’s picking whom up when? And did I mention that Saul and Pilar like to say hi and goodbye to every single group that comes – they are going to be doing a lot of travelling between Oaxaca and here this summer! In fact, just pondering what I have left to do, I think I had better go and do some more … :)

(For you Americans out there, Word Alive is a bit like Urbana but just 5000 people)

Photos from February and March

http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisprimmer/FebruaryAndMarch

Don't forget to keep and eye on www.armonia-uk.org.uk if you want to find out more about Armonia in general.

Boiler Watch

Still lacking a boiler so Gareth and Chrissi will have to enjoy the delights of fresh Mexican water :)
Note to Mayland - I was not complaining about the cold, just making a political point about how showering in the morning is clearly superior to the messed-up, twisted thinking of the 'eveningers'.
Having said that, I might start complaining about the heat here - phew it is hot!

"Earth to the Community Centre"!

So yesterday I was busy in the centre when Betsy and Eli (two of the ladies on the transformation course) approached me and asked me if I was busy. I was so in typical British fashion, I said I wasn’t. It seemed that they wanted help moving some earth to fill a hole in a flowerbed. So we left the centre by foot, curiously carrying a spade, pick and towing one of those heavy-lifting trolleys that office paper arrives on. We walked and talked until we exited Ojo de Agua and came to fields, at which point they became twitchy. Betsy asked me jokingly if I was right with God because we were apparently about to commit a crime and might get shot by farmers. Nothing like a soothing word to calm one’s nerves. But, a farmer wandered into sight and Betsy accosted the poor guy to ask if we could ‘borrow’ some of his soil. Now I’ve heard some fairly loose definitions in my time but what we wanted to do was take it – he was never going to get it back…
So with permission, we started filling rubble bags with nutrient-rich soil. You see, it transpired that the plan was thought through right up to the point where we found the soil, but no more. So when it came to tying the bags, I had to find some wire which I then cut with the pick! Where’s a penknife when you need one? And then once we had loaded it onto the trolley, we realised we couldn’t actually drag it back to the centre!
But, help was at hand, abeit bemused, and we were offered a lift back to the centre. And so I ended up spending most of the afternoon touring parts of Ojo de Agua, sat in the back of a flat-bed truck with 6 bags of soil and some vegetation-stuff. I’m glad I don’t have hayfever! We arrived with much pomp and fanfair, and paid them a bottle of coke and some tacos each for their efforts. A generous fee I think. Moral of the story – think your strategy through before going to steal soil.

Boiler Watch

What boiler? It still hasn’t arrived, even though we’ve paid for it and I still haven’t had a hot shower here in 2008. I have discovered that our water is warmer in the evenings because the sun heats the storage tank in the roof. Whoever thought morning showers were better? I already knew that evening washing was better but now I feel very much vindicated. ☺

Rules of the Road

Mexican roads are weird. I knew that already but everytime I travel, something new surprises me (or scares me). At the weekend it was a dual carriageway crossroads (when do we have those in the UK?) where the crossing through the central reservation of the slightly more major road (indicated by the one with most traffic) required you to drive on the left, rather than the traditional right. Why bother to keep to the traditions if it’s going to be a pain.
Today, the surprise was road markings. The roads here rarely have markings and you can work out the number of lanes by calculating the number of cars that can fit in the allocated space and adding one. At night, the potholes and speed bumps are very difficult to see and, occasionally, it’s hard to work out where the road goes. Someone seems to have sat down and thought about this. The solution – paint the trees! So as I walked to work this morning, I noticed that all the trees and telephone poles lining the street were painted white to about shoulder height (or head height if you’re Mexican). Amusingly, there hadn’t been any attempt whatsoever to do a neat job and most of the pavement (where there it exists) was painted too. Splatter, splatter, splatter. Awesome.

Newsletter 9: Mucho Worko :)

Wow - to think I've written 9 newsletters in 6 months!  I can't work out if that's good or bad!  Nonetheless, I hope that you have been able to get a little window into Mexican life, the ups and downs of serving in a Christian ministry and some of the amazing things God is doing amongst the Mexican poor through Armonía.

First the weather report.  Skip it if you don't like it but Lynn (M) complained last time that it was missing.  It's hot.  Most days reach 25 degrees and it is due to get hotter over the next few weeks.  Most people like this - I don't.  Give me snow over sun any day.  Thankfully, there's been a huge snowfall in the States which, combined with a Rossby Wave shift and polar highs has brought the temperatures down to a much more pleasant 10deg this week.  Spot the geographer.  Although this is too cold for the Mexicans it makes my room beautiful at night; just like 'The Fridge' in 24 Oak Tree Avenue.

The last month has been truly 'loco' as Hansell (so hot right now) would say.  As I re-read my last missive, I realised that it was pretty tame compared to the last 15 days!  The last two weeks I have averaged a working day of 8.30am to 11pm.  Lunch falls around 4.30, which I have discovered is quite a long way away from a 6am breakfast!  Don't worry though, not eating has never been much of a problem for those with Rimmer genes and I'm pretty sure that I'm not fading away.  Well, not that much.  

About two weeks ago, while I was busy trying to miss my thumb with a hammer in the Santa Cruz centre, Dani approached me and asked me to work in Casablanca.  At that point I thought I would work tuesdays and thursdays.  How wrong I was!  I quickly discovered that the Nico and Lupe had painted 3 dorms in 2 weeks and that no-one had ever taught them to paint.  Therefore it was surprising to all when a role-reversal occurred (normally they teach me manual labour) and they found themselves under the tutorship of the master painter-artist Rimmer (1985-) in a desperate attempt to have some walls without the post-modern 'dribble' effect and windows with enough unpainted glass to see through them.  Unfortunately, various sessions on preparing, painting technique, finishing and cleaning up seemed to fall upon deaf and paint-splattered ears!  The enormity of the task was realised soon after and the labour team (and skill-base) grew rapidly and I stayed there every waking hour of the day.  By last weekend, we had almost 30 people working on painting, plumbing, office reorganisation, computer networking and much more, including local labour, the ladies from the Santa Cruz community center and all the guys!  Great fun, if a bit chaotic.

In the middle of all this, things became more hectic when Liz returned to the States.  Because of a number of factors, this triggered a period of disillusionment with the leadership and their ways of working, augmented somewhat by tiredness after probably the hardest fortnight's work I have ever done.  Apart from my personal feelings, this obviously also upped my workload as I took on some of her jobs, including all her classes (I now teach 15 hours of English a week!).

And so this all continued to a climax last Thursday when the first visitors of the year arrived.  And what a shock awaited them - Casablanca looked stunning.  Even I was surprised when we finished (just 30 mins before their arrival!).  At this point, I feel like I should explain that Casablanca (the Armonía 'hotel') is a genius idea - an income-generation project.  Visitors that come and stay contribute directly into the income of the organisation, paying for salaries, student scholarships, subsidies for the lunches at the centers and many other things.  Money left over is saved for the winter when guests don't come.  It's well equipped to host groups of up to 35 people and even has a swimming pool.  Check out the photos through my blog at www.mexicanchris.blogger.com  I think you'll agree that all the work was worth it.

But I am happy to report that I am now alive and well after some good sleeps, and in generally good spirits.  There is still much to do but we've slowed down to a more sustainable rate.  Working so much has given me lots of time to really interact with each staff member and I feel even more like a part of the community here.  

I have learnt much this month - speaking in Spanish 24/7 means I'm really getting better (although I still can't roll my Rs).  God has again proved himself trustworthy in the midst of me being absolutely knackered as most of the work-related difficulties I had before Christmas have gone.  As far as I am concerned, I have continued trying to work my hardest so I thank those of you who have prayed especially for this – I can only put it down to His intervention.  

I have particularly enjoyed working alongside Saul over the last 2 weeks, writing correspondence and organising the group trips.  He's giving me more and more responsibility – I'm now in charge of tracking when everyone' arriving and where, and making sure we don't double-book or have him and Pilar yo-yoing back and forth with Oaxaca.  He's asked me to translate when he's not here – my first attempt last weekend with the visitors was OK but I had never really appreciated how difficult it is to listen in one language and speak simultaneously in another.  More practise required on this front to avoid speaking a strange kind of Spanglish into visitors' ears!  I've also learnt that the human body is quite resilient since I've adapted almost entirely to getting up at 5am every morning (Josías has had to return to his village so I'm running the house).

So much more to tell but I'll leave it for there now.  I'm aware that this time I've talked much more about me but, to be honest, there hasn't been that much time to get to know other facets of Armonía.  I'm going to Oaxaca in a week so I hope to give you an update on the amazing work going on down there.  In the meantime, keep an eye on the blog for amusing stories or thoughts (www.mexicanchris.blogger.com) and/or the new-improved Armonia UK website (www.armonia-uk.org.uk) for more general information and recent newsletters.

I'm off to make some chocolate chip cookies :)  With blessings,
Chris

Chris's Picasa Web Album - January 2008

http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisprimmer/January2008

Photos

Over the next few days, I'm going to try to put up some photos.  I've realised that there's been a distinct lack of photographic action on my blog.  Enjoy.

It finally happened...

So, the inevitable has finally occurred. It was always a possibility but I previously reckoned that it was a 'when' not an 'if'. Yep, that's right, I've been attacked by a dog.
It was a fairly amusing experience in retrospect. If you've seen the film 'Toy Story' (1) then you'll remember that there's a pretty nasty black and white dog belonging to Sid, the evil next-door neighbour who eventually gets his comuppance (I have absolutely no idea how you spell that!). Comeuppance? Com-uppance? Anyway, back to the story. So this dog obviously either takes a serious dislike or a serious like to me because it comes right for me. I say like or dislike because it was difficult to tell whether he wanted to maul or eat me. But hey, the end result's probably the same.
So I make a decision to get running. Quickly. And having once done the 100m in 11.6s I can move if I really need to. Unfortunately, that was on a track and this was on a Mexican road. Cue pothole or rock (I remain unsure what). Cue falling sensation. Cue road. The falling's not the problem; it's the landing that hurts. Understandably preoccupied that I wouldn't receive a new haircut, I decided to try the running away part again. The second time was more successful.
So the dog didn't get me (just) and I limped away chuckling to myself at how silly I must have looked (how very British!) with bruises and cuts on my hands, elbow, hip and knees. They'll mend, although my trousers are a little worse for wear. Nothing like a little excitement on the way to the community centre

Taking offence while people watch me in the street

It's not uncommon for people to shout "güero" at me in the street. It's very common for them to stop, stare and whisper, as if i had sixteen eyes and a 3 foot nose. But on Friday, I seemed to be attracting more attention than usual. Normally I don't mind but this irritated me - I was tired and took offence - and I wanted to shout at them; "seriously, just because I'm the colour of paper and not coffee doesn't mean I'm weird". Actually, I have to admit I think they were thinking I was stealing things because I was carrying a fence which I made for Alheli (and sweating profusely because it's a 2 mile walk from Santa Cruz and it was quite heavy).

See what I did there? Taking a fence while people watch me in the street. Oh I am so witty. And yes, it did take me most of my arduous journey to Alheli to think it up. Sad, I know.

Newsletter 8: Doing things the Mexican way

Dear Friends,

I have found a few moments to tell you a little of my life in Mexico over the last few weeks.  There is much to tell but it seems that a good description of my time so far in 2008 would be 'doing things the Mexican way'.

The time I spent in the UK was wonderful and I was encouraged by so many of you who enquired how I was and how the work was going.  Thanks :)  Being mentioned by Marvin twice in one service was quite amusing.  I managed to avoid going back and forth between Cambridge and Norwich too much (like November) and also slept a lot better so I didn't get ill when I returned (unlike November).  Combined with a new approach to the time difference and the 6am flight, all this meant I arrived refreshed and ready to go.  This was just as well because since then I have been on a gruelling timetable!

When Saul and Pilar Cruz assessed how the last few months had gone in Alheli (the Mexico City students' residence), they decided that the guys weren't working nearly hard enough, nor did they take care of their time well enough, nor did they have the right attitude to life.  I'm not sure I agree with this assessment but Armonía is the Cruzes' ministry and I've volunteered to be a part of it this year.  Their response to this has been very Mexican (= direct, prescribed and paternalistic); Saul has instigated a hard schedule.  For example, my Fridays start at 5am and finish at 9pm.  In total, I'm up at 5 three mornings a week to cook breakfast for the students and clean the residence (the other mornings start at a leisurely 6am).  By 8:30 most mornings, I'm at work having already cooked twice, cleaned, done personal Bible Study and 30 minutes of 'meditation time' (prayer, thinking, reflection)!

Technically, I'm meant to spend the mornings in the office but the Cruzes have been away visiting US supporters so I (thankfully) haven't had anything there.  This has been just as well because the Armonia sites are undergoing some major refurbishments and I haven't stopped since I got here at the end of January.  At Alheli, we've totally redecorated one of the rooms after the ceiling fell in when a pipe burst and we're redone the 3 bathrooms a nice shade of cream called 'crepa'.  Consequently, my things are distributed between 2 bedrooms and the hallway whilst we complete the job.  As an aside, I don't think I've lost anything (yet) and I managed to recover my memory stick and Sigg drinkbottle.  Unfortunately the penknife appears to have gone to the pile in the sky (no comments please Bignell, Pike, Widgery or Fergusson).  A penknife is always useful unless…

You have a Leatherman (thanks Mayland and Co.).  All is not lost because it has now come into its own during my jobs at the Santa Cruz community centre, where I'm spending about 75% of my time.  At SC (Santa Cruz, not Surrey Chapel), I have turned into something of a handyman.  Well, 'workman' might be a better description until I can assess just how handy my work is!  Once again, things are done the Mexican way.  We hand-cleaned out the dustiest carpentry in the entire world, prompting the ladies at the centre to comment that when dirty I look much more Mexican.  I have plumbed in two new roof downpipes, including cutting a 1.5m long trench through concrete.  In the UK we would find a machine, here you apparently just hammer away at the concrete for hours with a blunt chisel.  You know when you've hammered too much because your arm goes numb and you keep hitting yourself!  Muchos bruises.  We have emptied and inspected two cisterns.  They weren't cracked nor dry but we did have to gravity-drain them.  Thankfully I didn't get a mouth of dirty water.  Similarly we have an underground water storage unit that regularly overflows.  We wanted to see if it was blocked and so removed over 3000L water in buckets over the course of a day.  My shoulders are pretty sore as a result but it has been suggested by someone that the exercise might be good for my muscles.  Chiselled abs and bulging biceps here we come…?

On top of all this, we're strictly enforcing a Spanish-only zone in Alheli which means I end most days both physically and mentally drained.  With this and the daily house bible study, I am really picking up my Spanish and being able to engage spiritually with both the guys I live with and the ladies at the centre.  I really like being more able to help them with their Christian questions, which is an answer to prayer from the holidays.

So, all in all there's lots going on – I still have to build some fences, mend some tables, cut and install 4 windows, lay grass, repaint the entire centre and more.  But don't worry, I'll be learning how to do things the Mexican way whilst serving the community here. :)  I have to be honest that it's been hard adjusting to the new routine and remaining personable.  I have found that some days I really lose my energy and go a bit sullen, or I just lose the plot with my Spanish.  I think added into the difficulty is that I was at home a lot longer than I had intended and started to settle into life back in the UK (a man's way of saying I miss home).  But hopefully with time I will be able to do the jobs assigned to me with joy and infectious enthusiasm.

I'll be putting things up on the blog from time to time but the new schedule has meant that not much amusing has happened beyond me hitting myself with hammers or getting covered in muddy gunk cleaning out the cistern.  And I haven't had much time for reflectioning either.  I apologise to those of you who clearly don't have much better to do in your evenings than read my blog ;)

God bless and take care,
Chris

Carbon Footprints and Metal Cutlery

I was just finishing off a nice Iberia korma-chicken-thing with rice, salad and tasty airline cake when I realised that I’ve done a lot of flying since July 2007. A quick count-up revealed that in the last 7 months I have flown about 40,000 miles over 20 legs. I’ve spent about 109 hours in oh-so-comfortable airplane seats. And I still haven’t worked out whether it’s an aeroplane or airplane. I favour the latter based on the film title alone.
But the upshot of all this means that I cringe whenever people mention “carbon footprints”. I dread to think what my carbon output for the year 2007/2008 will be when all is done and dusted with my time at Armonia. Factor in the science that tells us that CO2 emitted into the upper troposphere has about double the impact of grond emissions and it becomes the stuff that environmental tree-huggers have nightmares about. The weird thing is that, for someone who probably has above-average awareness of the issues, this hasn’t bothered nearly as much as I thought it would. But it does bug me because if I’m not tearing my hair out in order to offset then who will? And even if I did offset, does paying a man on the internet to tell me he’s planted a tree actually do anything towards saving the planet from what is looking like an increasingly probably environmental disaster (if it isn’t already)? I really feel like I should think this through more while I fly even if it seems like an ironic use of my spare time!
Which brings me onto another thing which I’ve had time to chew over at 10,000m (so to speak). Now, I’m all for reusable cutlery, having complained every week Eden Church uses disposable tea and coffee cups (which is only slightly less offensive than the liquid served inside). But I was sure that metal cutlery was banned on most airlines. Not so Iberia. The paranoid American air companies use plastic knives so blunt that a rolling pin would do a better job of cutting through whatever they are calling food on that day but it seems that Iberia has judged a cutlery-armed Spanish terrorist to be less effective than his USA counterpart. It reminds me of some lines from a recent Flight of the Conchords song:
I saw a man lying on the street half dead
With knives and forks sticking out of his leg.
And he said,
"Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Can somebody get that knife and fork out of my leg, please?
Can somebody please remove these cutleries from my knees?"
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLEK0UZH4cs)

Blog Interest

Having been in the UK for quite a while over Christmas and New Year, you will have noticed that there has been little activity on my blog recently. I’ve received a number of suggestions as to why I haven’t been in contact recently. No, I haven’t been eaten by Mexican dinosaurs and no I’m not residing in some sort of internet black hole. I’ve actually had a disappointing number of encounters with man-eating reptiles whilst abroad and unless Norwich counts as an internet black hole (sometimes easier to believe than you might think), the second is inaccurate too. One might assume that my absence from the blogspaace was down to one of two factors. Either my life when I’m in England is sufficiently dull that nothing interesting happens or I’m so busy doing English things that I don’t have time to put things up.
In truth, it’s more of the latter. I’ve further familiarised myself with the train service as I flit between my two lives in Norwich and Cambridge, although I did also make it to Edinburgh, Coventry and London Euston station (very pleasant– not been there before). Plenty of amusing or random events have occurred; I’ve woken up with someone’s pants on my head, attended my Eden support prayer meeting for the second time (more than some of my support group!), trialled a new version of the Armonia UK website which consists entirely of pictures of Saul’s head (it’s complicated why) and found out what ‘somnambulist’ means (T2 crossword clue). Plenty of laughs and good times but although leaving friends and family is always hard, I’m glad to be back where I’m meant to be spending my year – in Mexico.

Happy New Year

It's a bit late but I haven't been near the web for a while. So... Happy New Year to all you MexicanChris readers out there. Enjoy the holidays, watch out for the incoming snow and may God bless you more and more with his rich grace in 2008.